Chapter 63 Face
The woman who lost the money was not lying. When registering the loss yesterday, she stated that the small bag contained a total of 23.87 yuan and a few receipts.
The only missing items in the recovered bag were the two ten-yuan bills; only three yuan and eighty-seven cents remained.
Song Lubai wasn't sure whether to praise the thief for being "kind," since he had thoughtfully left the thief a few yuan.
This is truly disgusting.
The team leaders were at a loss for what to do.
"Let's keep an eye on each other and prevent this from happening again. If we get caught, we won't let it go like we did this time."
Wang Haiquan and his companions looked grim.
The girl who lost the money is wiping away tears.
Her family had prepared more than 20 yuan for her to use for settling down and buying things after she arrived in Xinjiang. This amount of money was not a small sum for the family, but she lost it before she even got there.
Because of her crying, everyone in the carriage dared not speak loudly and kept their voices down.
Song Lubai looked around the crowd, trying to find the person of questionable character among them.
Unfortunately, everyone looked perfectly normal, and it was impossible to tell with the naked eye who had ulterior motives.
A dozen minutes later, Wang Haiquan was called to another carriage by Wei Yang.
"Comrade Wei, what is it?"
Wei Yang waited for more than ten minutes before calling Wang Haiquan over, just to save face for the thief.
Although Wang Haiquan gave that person a chance, the person was still trying to be clever. But if he were to be disgraced on the bus, his life as a thief would not be easy from now on.
Stealing is morally wrong, but it's not considered an unforgivable crime.
"Comrade Wang, I saw that person last night. She was the tallest of the women. Could you call her over in a bit, but be discreet?"
Wang Haiquan looked bewildered.
Wei Yang explained, "The place to return the items is in front of the connecting area between the carriages. I'm a light sleeper at night, and I'll wake up at the slightest noise."
Wang Haiquan nodded and walked to the entrance of the carriage to look inside.
The tallest woman was in the team he led in Yangcheng, Henan Province.
The woman was tall and thin, with dark skin. Her height stood out among the other women, and was also above average compared to the men.
If she weren't this tall, it wouldn't be convenient for her to steal things directly from the shelves; her height, however, gave her that advantage.
Wang Haiquan couldn't bring himself to give the thief a friendly look, but remembering Wei Yang's instructions, he sighed and decided to save face for the thief.
Walking up to the tall girl, Wang Haiquan looked at the wild vegetable bun she was eating and said calmly, "You're so big, you can't eat this every day. Come here, I'll get you a pancake."
Seeing that everyone around her was looking at her and the cornbread in her hand, Sun Hong's face flushed, but the color didn't show because of her dark skin.
She felt something was off, but then she thought that everyone in the big city looked the same, so they couldn't possibly spot her, and her clenched fist loosened slightly.
Sun Hong hesitated and declined, "Thank you, Director Wang, but it's no need. I'll just eat this. This cornbread will spoil quickly, so I need to finish it quickly."
Without saying a word, Wang Haiquan reached out and grabbed her arm, then quickly let go.
"Just come when I tell you to, stop arguing."
Watching from a distance, Song Lubai thought that Director Wang must be in a very bad mood right now, otherwise he wouldn't be wearing his emotions on his face.
These past few days, Director Wang has been very kind and gentle to them.
She knew that the girl Director Wang was calling was named Sun Hong; they had sat together just yesterday.
She glanced at Wei Yang on the other end.
Coincidentally, their eyes met.
His eyes, visible beneath the brim of his hat, were calm and revealed no emotion.
Wang Haiquan successfully took Sun Hong away. Some people, like Song Lubai, keenly realized something. Most people thought that Director Wang was genuinely kind in giving Sun Hong the pancakes, and they were even a little envious.
Wang Haiquan did indeed give Sun Hong a pancake, and then led her to cargo compartment number six.
Sun Hong was greeted by Wei Yang, who had a calm expression, and Wang Haiquan, whose expression had become very serious.
Wei Yang spoke succinctly, his voice deliberately lowered: "I saw it last night. Return the money and apologize to the person who lost it, and this matter will be over."
Sun Hong was stiff all over; she hadn't expected to be arrested like this.
She wanted to deny it, but her burning face prevented her from saying a word.
Wang Haiquan looked at her calmly, but his tone was not harsh: "Making mistakes is not terrible, what is terrible is knowing your mistakes and not correcting them. I gave you a chance yesterday, but you didn't seize it and still had wishful thinking. You are clearly a good comrade, otherwise you wouldn't have come all the way to XJ. I hope this is the last time."
Sun Hong lowered her head and nodded, holding back tears as she said, "I'm sorry."
Wang Haiquan: "You shouldn't have said that to me, you should have said it to those four people. Alright, wipe your tears and go back."
Sun Hong clutched at her clothes, "Director Wang, could I give you the money and have you pay it back for me? I'll apologize to them after we get off the bus. Don't worry, I definitely will apologize, but on the bus..."
With so many people around, she simply couldn't bring herself to speak.
Wang Haiquan nodded, "Okay, just don't do it again."
Song Lubai, who was in the carriage, kept a close eye on Sun Hong's movements.
She didn't return until a full hour after leaving the train carriage, and her eyes were red when she came back.
She was certain in her mind that the thief was probably Sun Hong.
When the train made an unscheduled stop at noon, Wang Haiquan gave the twenty yuan that Sun Hong had returned to the girl who had lost the money back to her in the open field.
The girl cried for a long time until her eyes were red and swollen. Overjoyed to have her lost money back, she wept tears of joy.
Song Lubai stretched her stiff and heavy arms and legs by the roadside. After seeing this scene, she glanced at Sun Hong, who was standing outside the crowd with her head down, seemingly lost in thought.
The train moved slowly along the railway.
The first two days everyone was very excited, and they had endless things to talk about while looking at the scenery outside the car. Starting from the third day, everyone showed varying degrees of listlessness, their voices were not as loud, and everyone had backaches and felt uncomfortable all over.
Starting on the fourth day, Song Lubai's legs became noticeably swollen.
I couldn't sleep well at night, and I didn't have much of an appetite for pancakes during the day. My face had become noticeably thinner, making my eyes look even bigger.
From the Central Plains to the Northwest, the most obvious change is that the mountains on both sides of the road turn from green to yellow, from lush greenery to bare yellow.
The most noticeable difference was when we entered Gansu province; the surrounding area was barren and yellowish.
Six days have passed, and everyone's faces have turned ashen. They are all thinking about getting to their destination so they can get a good night's sleep and have a peaceful night's rest.
"How much longer until we arrive?"
Wang Haiquan smiled and said, "Almost there, almost there."
Everyone's ears are tired of hearing that phrase.
"Director Wang, please stop. You've been saying it'll be soon for the past three days."
Wang Haiquan smiled and tried to divert everyone's attention: "Haven't you noticed that the further west you go, the longer the days get? It's already 7:30 pm, and it's still not dark here..."
The crowd was incredulous: "No way, it's not 7:30 yet, the sun hasn't even set..."
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